How do you get organized?

I have a lot going on at home -

1) I work from home as something resembling an attorney

2) I write from home as something resembling a novelist

3) I live at home as something resembling a wife

4) I occasionally sing and dance at home as something resembling a crazy person

As such, I find it a little difficult to stay organized. I accumulate a LOT of paper, much of which I digitize under password and then destroy, but it doesn't keep it from piling up. Just an FYI, it's true that lawyers tend to be after money. That's because being a lawyer is freaking expensive. Between leftover loans from law school and the bar exam, licensing fees, bar association fees, and subscriptions to all the crap we need  in order to stay informed about our particular areas of law (not to mention any other office overhead we need to maintain), I always marvel at anyone who manages to actually be profitable as an attorney. And it's no wonder that it's expensive to have all of that stuff - because everyone involved in the legal industry in this state is always sending me paper!

Then there's the writing. I thank NaNoWriMo on a daily basis for introducing me to Scrivener. I bought it the first time I participated in NaNo back in 2007 and haven't looked back. I think part of the reason I like to escape into noveling is because it's actually one area of my life that it's not too difficult to organize, and I keep it all on my computer (except the occasional map I draw out when I need to visualize something - I have no skill as a graphic artist on the computer; printer paper and a #2 pencil all the way, baby). If so inclined though, I do have the ability to scan those bits of paper and then stick them in Scrivener so I don't have to freak out if I lose track of my physical copies.

I'm also going to admit a dirty little secret: I kind of like being a little housewifey. I like cooking. I like cleaning. I don't really like doing laundry, but I'll do it, and I like the sense of accomplishment I feel afterwards. That is the one area where I don't feel completely scatterbrained and out of control - I know I can bring order and sense to my household without so much as batting an eyelash. 

The one place where my writing really suffers, though, is due to how I organize my time. I've been trying to make good use of the technology available to me - I use iCloud to synchronize my work calendar and my personal calendar. I bring my iPad everywhere so I can do small tasks while I'm stuck in waiting rooms. I maintain to-do lists, I have a whiteboard that lists all of my long- and short-term goals. But somehow, I have a hard time deciding what I'm really supposed to be doing at any given moment. 

Perhaps it's because I work from home, leading to a blending of my personal time and my work time. Even when I'm "off the clock," I feel a bit guilty for doing housework or writing at home. I've actually been contemplating going to the coffee shop nearby to write so I have some separation from my work space, except that kind of cuts into my personal time with my husband, and adds an extra step when I want to get up and start cleaning. I sometimes wonder if working from home is the best arrangement for me, when I have such a hard time distinguishing between how I spend my time. Sometimes, I literally stall out, and end up getting nothing done for a few hours while I try to decide what I should be doing. 

How do you compartmentalize your time? Do you maintain a rigorous schedule, and if so, do you manage to stick to it? 

Spiritual Musings: The Throw-Away Pile

I've been attending my church for about 3 years now - ever since my husband and I selected it to be the place we ended up getting married. I've always been Christian, except for a brief stint from ages 12 to 15 where I decided I was into wicca, and I was feeling pretty adrift because I hadn't found a church home since I'd moved to the Chicagoland area a few years beforehand. I'm not 100% sure what drew me to this church in particular - I wasn't immediately welcomed with open arms, and it actually took a while before people would start coming up to me and saying hello. I was on my own, because my husband was bar tending at the time and would be up until 4am on Saturday nights, leaving me to venture out on my own on Sunday mornings. And I'm painfully shy, so it was hard for me to take that first step and walk up and say hello to someone. But I toughed it out for a few months, going and sitting alone, awkwardly smiling at people during the greeting of peace.

After several months, a turning point happened. Someone had heard me singing along with the music and told the band about it, and the guitarist approached me about singing with them at the contemporary services. I've been singing with them ever since, and it's my favorite part of being a member of the congregation there. However, my church is facing some trouble. Our congregation is shrinking, and attendance is down very low from where it was just a few years ago. Our congregation is also aging; my husband and I are some of the youngest people there (other than the youth group, which is also very small). We are going through some tough times, because fewer millenials are attending church, and those that are do not seem to be attracted to us.

In this time of difficulty, our pastor made a very inspiring series of sermons about Joseph that is not only applicable to my church's struggles, but to several personal ones as well, which have all led me back to writing. If you don't know the story of Joseph, I'll summarize: Joseph was one of many sons of Jacob, and he was Jacob's favorite. Even though he was the second-youngest out of 12 brothers, Jacob intended for Joseph to be his heir. Joseph was also blessed with the ability to interpret dreams, and whatever he interpreted, came true. He arrogantly told his brothers about his predictions that he would one day rise above all of them. All of this compounded to make his brothers very jealous, and they ended up secretly selling Joseph into slavery. He was later falsely accused of attempting to rape his master's wife, and ultimately ended up in prison, where he was forgotten for many years - ending up on the "throw-away pile."

Throughout all of these struggles, Joseph still retained his ability to interpret dreams. But these humbling experiences had an effect on him. When he finally emerged from prison at the behest of the pharaoh to interpret a dream (this one foretelling famine), he knew: his gift was not his ability to interpret dreams, but that God worked through him to interpret the dreams. All he was, he owed to God. But this realization never would have happened if he had not suffered first - if God had not ground the arrogance out of Joseph, inspiring humility and the realization that he needed to let God lead and not his own arrogance. As my pastor put it, Joseph needed to be in the throw-away pile for a time in order to become what God needed him to be (later, saving his people from the famine).

My church is currently in the throw-away pile. I am currently in the throw-away pile. We're feeling abused, tired, down-trodden, and a little hopeless sometimes. I'm in a job that I struggle with on a daily basis. My church is trying to find a new identity so it can remain relevant to young generations. But I don't think I can become the writer I want to be, or the person I want to be, without first learning the empathy I'm learning right now. And my church can't be the loving example of God's family that it should be without first coming to the painful realization that we're shrinking, and if we don't do something different to help young people find the answers they are looking for in life, we may disappear.

Even though this seems a little depressing, it isn't. Change and growth is always painful, but I feel lucky that I was able to be in the pews on Sunday and hear something that made me realize it has a purpose.

Sick at Work? Go Home. No, Seriously.

Admit it: If you have a regular day job, and someone calls in sick, at least 75% of the time, you judge them.

I know I do it.

I think I've become incredibly jaded, partially because I was in a supervisory position for a brief period of time and relied upon people to come in and do their share of work, and sometimes (in fact, many times), I got left up the creek without a paddle. Even when I wasn't a semi-supervisor, I saw people sneak sick days all the time. Let's be honest: often, the only sickness we are really suffering is one involving "mental health," where if we don't call in sick, we're likely to show up and open fire.

But then there are those people. Or, for some of us, there are just those times, where we feel the obligation to work, even if we have been known to take those mental health days. You know what I'm talking about: coming into work sick, with a growing pile of tissues near the desk, coughing, hacking, and sneezing through the day. You can just feel the germs emanating from that cubicle, landing on you and taking up residence in your sinuses.

Why do people go to work sick? I have a few theories:

1) When I actually got sick days, I hated to waste valuable sick time on actually being sick. At the time, I would rather go to work half-dead and struggle through it, and reserve my sick time for those days where I was merely mentally fatigued and wanted to curl up with a good book or some daytime TV. 

2) Ego. Think about it: if you are a boss, and you see one of your employees come in even though they are obviously sick, part of you does kind of think "OK, this person is showing some dedication." I know I always felt that way as an employee: look at me! I'm sick, but I'm coming to work anyways! I must be awesome! (Granted, I had usually taken a few mental health days before then, thereby negating any real status boost I might've gained... oh, to be young and naive again...) Plus, let's face it, when we go to work sick, we do feel pretty virtuous about it.

3) These days: no sick time. This is an unfortunate reality of the present day workplace. I've been a part of this group of people as well - where waking up doesn't involve that quick calculation of "how many sick hours do I have left?" Instead, it involves, "How much can I afford to spend this month if I don't go to work today?"

I'm very fortunate in that I get to work from home a lot of the time; however, my day job involves a very significant amount of business development activity, meaning I am constantly venturing forth to networking events or face-to-face meetings to find some new people that might be willing to send me some business. I've been fairly insulated from whatever general illnesses have been circulating the population, though, until I decided to attend a bar association event on Wednesday.

What the hell is it about lawyers that makes them all fall into category #2? There wasn't a person in that room that wasn't sniffling, sneezing, or coughing. And for the first time (as I felt the germs invading my body), all I could think was, "Really, people? You couldn't stay home today?" I've been blessed with fairly good health for the past 9 months, and am not eager to acquire the yearly cold/upper respiratory infection I usually manage to get somewhere between November and March. I thought I might squeak by this year, but to no avail. Unfortunately, my symptoms started to manifest while I was making my way through the annual International Motorcycle Show in Chicago. I typically really enjoy the event, being a little bit of a motorcycle enthusiast myself, but my sinuses prevented me from having a good time this year.

And, honestly, I blame the lawyers. 

Really, the whole situation has given me a new perspective. I've never really been able to pinpoint who caused me to get sick before - usually it's just some nebulous event that starts to develop over time. But actually being able to tell when I (most likely) acquired my illness has made me realize - if you go out somewhere, and you're sick... you're spreading germs! Intellectually, I've always understood this simple concept. But never have I thought... "I'm infecting people!" I've just gone about my business as usual. 

So, in the vein of "do unto others," I've resolved - I'm going to do my best not to be a germ-spreader. I'm not a hypochondriac, nor am I particularly OCD, but there's a lot we all can do to keep from spreading the misery (think about how you feel when you can't breathe through your nose - if you could keep others from feeling that way, would you?? I would!). 

I may be stating the obvious here; I'm sure this is a revelation many people come to long before their late 20's. However, it seems like not everyone reaches this epiphany, given the number of people who, if they have the choice, still come to work sick. So, should people struggle through it at the risk of infecting their co-workers? Or should they take the sick time and come back when they are no longer covered in virus-y grossness? 

Beauty of a Woman Blogfest

I am a little late to the bus on this one, but wanted to post this for anyone who's missed it. If you haven't had a chance, pop over to August McLaughlin's blog today. Women across the blogosphere are sharing what the beauty of a woman really is, with stories that are at once awe-inspiring, tearful, hilarious, and simply... truthful.

I still haven't made it all the way through the various posts, but that's what I'll be doing with my free time today. Take a look and be inspired.

New directions

I got stuck in such a rut when I sat down to write today. Looking back, it seems like I hit a lot of those. I guess it is just part of the process. But I kept hearing the voice of my inner editor going off, telling me my novel doesn't make any sense and that I really need to find a way to explain a few things first. However, I have a deep aversion for explaining things. One of the things that has kept me from getting through many a novel is the author's need to sit down and explain a bunch of stuff, in big, chunky paragraphs, in a very abstract way. I don't want to be told these things. I want you, the author, to show them to me. If it's so important, then it shouldn't be dully recited across 5 pages of backstory. Novel-ize the backstory! Have one of your characters be a storyteller, and have them novelize the backstory! Something! Just don't backstory at me til it makes me want to put your book down and go read something else!

Harry Potter is a good example of how I like a backstory presented to me. J.K. Rowling does not go on for 8 pages explaining about how there are these wizards in the world, and then a bad wizard named Voldemort came along and started killing people, and then some people tried to stop him, and then Harry's parents got killed, and then Voldemort was vanquished while trying to kill Harry. No. We all know that's what happened, but why? Because it was revealed to us in bits and pieces - first with a little bit of prologue that gives us a tantalizing glimpse, then through Hagrid, and then through various other characters and events throughout the book. Even Snape's backstory is given to us in a "show-don't-tell" fashion.

So, needless to say, I started going around in circles about how to get this important information out there in a way that is not confusing but doesn't involve a bunch of backstory recitation. And I ended up with something of a prologue, that might grow into a prequel novella. I like the direction it's going so far, just need to see how long it ends up being before I decide how to incorporate it in my overarching story. It's also revealing some incredibly interesting things about the world I've started to develop, so I can't wait to keep going on it and see where it leads.

Today I managed to log over 1200 words by adding this prologue/prequel, so I'm considering it a success. Time for a celebratory glass of wine!

My Characters Won't Diet

In case you needed further reinforcing that I have a love affair with food, I made a decision today: the characters in my novels will never be on a diet.

This decision is actually a tough one to make; while I favor the fantasy genre, I have written chick lit before, and plan to write it again someday. I found it a fun, relatable genre with a lot of potential for catharsis. However, one of the central points usually tends to be the never-ending quest to lose about 5 pounds. I think the only book in that genre that I read that didn't have some kind of prevailing weight-loss theme was the first book in the Shopaholic series (granted, I haven't read huge amounts of chick lit, but it wouldn't surprise me to find it's a common thread).

I'm currently trying to re-align myself with the basic tenets of Weight Watchers, because most of my clothes no longer fit. And, honestly, it hasn't been very fun. At the moment, I'm gnawing on a breakfast sandwich that tastes a little like bark (if I knew what bark actually tasted like). I'm willing to subject my characters to heartbreak; they can be hungry from questing, exhausted, exposed to the elements, wounded from facing mythical creatures, heck - I may even kill one or two off here and there. But I will not make them eat a low-fat multigrain bagel, with cheese that is slightly reminiscent of plastic and an unnatural circle of something that is rumored to be egg white.

Most of my fantasy characters will not really have to worry about this sort of thing, of course. Usually the only fat ones are the innkeepers, and they aren't too worried about maintaining a good physique. But the idea still holds - one of the things I've always loved when reading fantasy novels is the descriptions of the food. I want to explain that the vegetables and potatoes being set for the feast are slathered in butter or bacon fat. The meat shall be roasted with the skin still on, so that it crackles while the juices run down people's fingers as they eat. And the desserts? I'd feel like I let someone down if they weren't insanely elaborate and involved an actual river of chocolate (historical accuracy be damned).

One of the other things I cannot wait to do in my novel is something I've experienced over and over again, and I love it every time. A character goes on a quest. They start out with enough supplies, but it becomes clear at some point that there isn't enough. They have to scavenge. Their resources dwindle, and eventually they end up facing an enemy - perhaps they end up wounded, but somehow still squeak by and survive. Then, they finally make it to safety, and food, and water, and healing. The dynamic there is so incredibly simple, but whenever I find myself reading that kind of sequence, it's like I'm being built back up with the character while it happens. I love it when an author lists out exactly what the character is eating in order to reclaim his or her strength, because it's like I'm eating every word and I can feel them recovering. It happens over and over again in the Wheel of Time series and in Tolkien's novels as well. It's a strange kind of rejuvenation, to the point where, if I have to stop reading while the character is still exhausted and trying to get to safety, I just don't feel right until I get to read them the rest of the way there.

Anyways, to summarize: diets=bad. Food=good. Questing=better. Adventure=best.

Oh Frabjous Day!

Well, the past few days have been immensely better! I haven't felt like myself in a few weeks, but now I've made it to the gym a few times, done some running, and managed to knock out my freelancing projects. I'll probably take this week off from freelancing so I can focus on my novel a bit more. I am a bit behind where I'd like to be, but still plugging away at it bit by bit.

We're all chilling watching the Superbowl at the moment. I'll be honest: I had no idea it was really supposed to be on this weekend but for a conference call at work on Friday. Our rep in Indianapolis was talking about the crowds from everyone flying in for the game. Granted, we did order hoagies through our church youth group (they do it as a fundraiser every year, and btw, these are awesome hoagies). The hoagies and the commercials are about all I look forward to... OK, the half-time show is usually pretty good too. Oh, and pizza and wings. And adult beverages. Yup. OK. So the Superbowl isn't too bad, except for all of the football stuff in between.